2012 Recommended Components Signal Processors

Signal Processors

A

Meridian 861 with MRC room correction: $18,995 ✩
The MRC’s correction scheme is based on calculating and inserting multiple narrow notch filters for each speaker in each of the 861’s applications (see “Music Surround Components”). In order to reduce the decay time of each strong resonant mode with respect to the average decay time for the room, the notch filters are configured to match the frequency and time parameters of the resonant modes. In addition, the MRC limits the amount of correction to avoid making an audible change in the immediate sound from the speakers. KR’s system gained seamless wraparound imaging and significantly tighter and surprisingly powerful subwoofer performance. “Perhaps the most customizable and effective multichannel room correction system for below 200Hz. I am continuing to discover more about it with each use.” Stereophile’s 2006 “Multichannel Music Component.” (Vol.29 No.7 Read Review Online)

Paradigm Reference PBK: $99
An adaption of the formidable Anthem Room Correction system used in Anthem’s Statement D2 processor, the PBK includes USB cables and a microphone, and will work with up to four Paradigm subwoofers. While easier to use and considerably less expensive than either the SVSound or Audyssey devices, the PBK’s subjective results were “no better or worse,” said Kal. The PBK provided “a huge improvement” in the bass performance of the Paradigm Reference SUB 15, however. “The PBK, the SUB 15’s obvious mate, is a bargain,” KR concluded. (Vol.33 No.1 Read Review Online)

Rives Audio PARC analog parametric equalizer: $4000 ✩
Of this two-channel, three-band parametric equalizer with Parametric Adaptive Room Compensation (PARC), KR said, “the PARC was completely transparent in both the critical midrange and the revealing treble range,” while in the lower midrange and bass, “the PARC was changing the sound, as intended.” Deep male voices were “always firmer, better defined harmonically and spatially, and easier to distinguish musically.” Large and complex passages of music were also improved: “I realized that, although there was no sapping of energy, there was a greatly enhanced facility to hear more of what was going on within the orchestra. PRaT (Pace, Rhythm, and Timing) fans will appreciate what PARC does to delineate the pulse and meter of the music.” One of Stereophile’s 2003 “Joint Accessories.” (Vol.26 No.7 Read Review Online)

Rives Audio sub-PARC: $5000 ✩
The sub-PARC adds a 1200W power amplifier to an analog three-band parametric EQ, making it “eminently suitable for use with a passive subwoofer,” said Kal. It includes RCA and XLR inputs for the left, right, and LFE channels; RCA and XLR output jacks for left, right, and subwoofer; and a pair of speaker terminals. Partnered with the XTZ Room Analyzer, the sub-PARC helped KR achieve a sound that was “clean and tight and powerful.” (Vol.31 No.11 Read Review Online)

Velodyne SMS-1: $499 ✩
This little box is at once an equalizer to be connected between a preamplifier-processor and subwoofer, a test-signal generator to be connected to a pre-pro’s line input, a display device to be connected via composite or S-video to your monitor, and all the interactive computation power needed. KR found that subwoofers benefited from the SMS-1, which linearized and flattened the bass. (Vol.28 No.11 Read Review Online)

I've always appreciated how much content Stereophile makes available on this site. I also always figured that Recommended Components was something that was held off the website to give us some incentive to purchase the magazine in either paper or on line form so I was really pleased to see this added.

One of the problems of the 'buy it yourself' approach to audio a Magazine is stuck with is that the path of modifying upgrading used gear gets short shrift, let alone doing it yourself. Those parts of the high-end are off the radar here.

This partciularly applies to FM antennas. The best results from FM stereo can only result from pointing a directional antenna with gain at the desired station. One sure way to get such results is an external directional antenna up high. This ensures that the FM front end will be in (i) full limiting and (ii) that there is minimal multi-path on the signal.

Few indoor antennas are really good at either (i) or (ii), unless your lucky and close to a desired staion or two. Just one type is capable of doing both, but you can't buy one. This best indoor FM antenna is the wire rhombic with sides approaching 3 metres long (or exceeding). The gain is high because each element equals the desired wavelength and becasue it is also a highly directional antenna. The cost in money is very low, 14 to 20 meters of twin ribbon, some resistors and a balun to feed coax to your radio.

When made from 300 ohm twin ribbon (the same stuff used for T folded dipole antennas) it will have twice the already high gain. Don't worry you are most unlikely to overalaod your FM front-end.

You can hide it on a suitable room's ceiling or under a large rug. A suitable room is the largest one which has a long diagonal pointing in the right direction - ie at most of your desired stations. Note also that the acceptance angle of a rhombic can be adjusted in and out a couple of ways, see the article referenced below.

The article about them and how to make one was published in the now defunct magazine 'Audio' and is available at the Audio Asylum's FAQ section, near the bottom of the listings.

If you can drive a good tuner into full limiting with a strong low multipath signal and have even one station that broadcasts live acoustic simply miked concerts, you have a true high-end source.

Total new guy here, but a quick question about the rating of the Peachtree Dac it. To confirm I'm understanding correctly, is it considered so poor quality it gets a letter grade of "K"? As in not even worthy of an "F"?

Okay, so sound quality is as subjective as the music itself, I get that.

But seriously, you include the ATH-M50's and ATH-AD700's (good headphones, don't get me wrong), but not the SR225/SR325 from Grado? What about the absolutely SUBLIME RS1i or its little-brother the RS2i? The PS1000's?

I own all of the above, and for studio work I favor the RS1i's above anything else, especially Sennheiser, as monitors don't have to be PAINFULLY Flat to listen to, they just have to be accurate to the source while able to replicate other sources, which the RS1i's/RS2i's/PS1000's do with aplomb! The dynamic design and solid-mahogany cups make the music sound much more "alive", and the editing/mixing sessions sound identical to the recording sessions; this is in contrast to many others that neuter the sound to the point that it just goes flat.

I realize I am here spouting off my opinion, but as I am pretty sure that's like 87% at least of the job description for being an "audiophile", so I'm okay with it ;)

I just hate to see TRULY deserving headphones get passed over because they don't have the same "prestige" as Bowers&Wilkins or the like, nor the brand recognition of Sennheiser (who are, by the way, on track to becoming the BOSE of the headphone world.... I'll give them 5 years). I challenge anyone to spend ~20hrs with a pair of Grado SR325's (NOT the SR325i's, but the original Mahogany ones), the RS1i's/RS2i's, the PS1000's, or even the SR225's (again, NOT the SR225i's), a strong headphone amp (everyone has their favorites, but I find that these do best with a good amount of overhead), and the best source material you can get, ideally a very high-end system with DVD-Audio quality sound or better (don't even think about any kind of lossy compression, because you WILL hear every "off" sound). Heck, I get fantastic results with simply plugging any of the aforementioned 'cans directly into the headphone port on my HT|Omega Claro Halo XT sound card in my very high end workstation/overclocking rig (who says you can't mix business and pleasure??)...
I will admit that every pair of Grado's that I've owned has needed some break-in time, with as little as 40 hours for some SR80i's to ~120hrs for the SR225/SR325 cans to really shine (RS1i's = 75-80hrs, RS2i's = 70-75hrs, PS1000's = 90hrs), but I do my "break-in" a bit differently than most: I set up everything through my computer, including DAC/amp/etc running off an M-Audio card, and I have a specific playlist I use for breaking them in that consists of 125-175x ~3:30 to ~11:15 long Audio Tracks (full, uncompressed recordings and masters; the 125 songs take up about 3.7GB of space! yes, about 30MB per track, at 192Khz/48bit "RAW") of varying types/genres set in "loop" for the first playthrough and then "looping random" after that, and the volume automatically adjusts based on elapsed time. For those who wonder, I use: Sigur Ros, Pink Floyd, OK GO, Led Zeppelin, Bowie, Florence & the Machine, Grateful Dead, Incubus, Jay-Z, Jose Gonzalez, Pete Yorn, (recently added) Trent Reznor & Karen O's "Immigrant Song" cover from Girl w Dragon Tattoo, K'Naan, Manfred Mann, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Metallica ("One"), Norman Greenbaum, Neil Young, Rolling Stones, Scala ("Blower's Daughter"), Shwayze, Sufjan Stevens, RUSH, Tegan&Sara, Tom Petty, The Roots, Them Crooked Vultures, and a bunch more; as you can see, it's a mix of male and female vocalists, every instrument under the sun, all types of music, and so forth (quite eclectic). BUT IT WORKS!
I PROMISE YOU that if you properly break-in any pair of Grado's, they will become one of your favorite listening headphones, if not your number one. Having tried everything from the bird-poop-looking iPod iEarbuds (kill me please) to most of the consumer-level stuff (Sony MDR's are Amazing for the price, Beats by Dre are absolute junk and I've left stuff in the porcelain chamber with more musicality than that overpriced BS), to headphones that cost more than many peoples' cars and proclaim to be "hand-assembled by a team of naked supermodels over the course of 123 days with all work done only under a half-crescent moon while Mars and Jupiter align, emparting magical sonic characteristics into the hand-carved African rare wood covers and plated with Rhinocerous poop, well known for its excellent bass enhancement"... Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but not THAT much. YET I KEEP COMING BACK TO THE GRADO'S!!!

In your October 2011 issue, the VPI classic 3 gets an A rating, but here it seems to have been demoted to a B. Tthe Rega RP3 is class B here, but in the anniversary edition it gets a C rating. Which is correct?

Yes, sometimes as the result of further experience of the product or of competitive products, sometimes because the initial rating is provisional, for a product that is reviewed in the same issue as the updated list. But whenever a rating has changed, it is the most recent rating that reflects our current opinion of the product.

In the case of the VPI Classic 3, it has been reinstated in Class A in the listing that will appear in the April 2013 issue.

I have been a binge reader of stereophile ever since high school when my first job was in a high end stereo shop (Threshold amps, KEF 104.2's).

My brother is an architect and my colleague an electrical engineer. They both deride the idea that giant audiophile cables make a difference noting that the wire that delivers electricity to the house and through the walls is only this big.

Not having the budget to try an assortment of (sometimes very expensive) cables I've kept mine pretty modest. But I will concede they can sound different.

But I am a little confused that Stereophile has ratings for digital data connects without any measurements.

Digital cables either deliver bit-perfect data streams or they don't. And their accuracy should be reported even if Stereophile also wants to report the sonic affect of any digital distortion.

If I spent a lot of money on a music server, DAC, amplification and speakers, the last thing I want is the cable altering the bits.